The present invention relates to an RF coil and a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus.
There are known magnetic resonance imaging apparatuses whose RF coils are made variable in size to save the trouble of RF coil reinstallation or replacement to alter the size of the field of view (FOV) (see Patent Document 1 for example). The RF coil disclosed in Patent Document 1 is shown in FIG. 6 in a partially abridged way. According to Patent Document 1, a conductor 504 is provided to split a loop unit 501 into a loop unit 502 and a loop unit 503. The loop unit 502 is provided with a receiver unit 505, the conductor 504 is provided with a switch 506 for changing over the conductance state, and the loop unit 503 is provided with a switch 507 for changing over the conductance state. And, while reception by the loop unit 501 of the larger size is made possible by placing the switch 506 in a non-conductive state and the switch 507 in a conductive state, reception by the loop unit 502 of the smaller size is made possible by placing the switch 506 in a conductive state and the switch 507 in a non-conductive state.
[Patent Document 1] JP-A No. 290168/2003
However, the technique described above, as it uses two switches, invites complexity of control and an increase in the number of components.